To Orion Clemens
28 July 1862 • Aurora, Calif./Nev. Terr.
(Typed transcription by or for Albert Bigelow Paine of damaged MS, damage emended: CU-MARK, UCCL 12723)

[‸P. S. I hope you will get into the] new office as [soon as ever you] can, & furnish it [handsomely—‸
[one or more lines of text may be lost here]]

Esmeralda, [July 28, 1862]

[My Dear Bro:

[one or more lines of text may be lost here]

When] you write that [Proclamation,] hadn’t you better advertise it in the Esmeralda Star, too,—provided we shall be represented?

I hope Raish got off before you paid him. I want him to wait for that money until the ledge is struck. I told you to believe nothing he said—but I judge from the tone of your letter, that you have swallowed his whole dose of lies.

D—d lie No. 1—All that stuff about the Annipolitan, P. Utah, &c.

D—d lie No. 2—All that about a new contract on the Annipolitan.

D—d lie No. 3—About $50 having been offered for the Annipolitan.

He would sell in a minute for $10, and be a fool for doing it.

D—d lie No. 4—That 50-foot shaft to be sunk on the Monitor.

D—d lie No. 5—He thought the Derby “would be struck day before yesterday.”

Your comment is refreshing: “This looks pretty well.” (with my first advice alongside of it) “Believe nothing he tells you.” Read the two backwards and forwards, and see how you think it looks by this time.

Don’t you suppose I would have told you all these things, had they been true, since I had warned you that he was a [liar, and you must] not believe [him ever. I] don’t care a D—n if you [did believe him,] provided he got not a cent of [money from you].

While he was telling you how many good things he got me into, did he tell you how he didn’t get me into his Federal [Union?] Or after promising me 50 feet of Annipolitan he only let me have 33?

Well, you keep the d—d son of a tinker out of his money as long as you can, and I shall be satisfied. He is a New York man. And if you can find me 4 white men among your Northern-born acquaintances, I’ll eat them if they wish it. There are good men in the North, but they are d—d scarce.

I would like some paper, but it costs too much to express it here. I can buy it cheap enough.

I am much obliged to Reardon, Murphy, Lockhart and Gallaher for the favor they show my letters. Barstow has written me offering pay, and I have answered him. And while I think of it, don’t commit yourself to Gillespie—I want a finger in that printing, with Barstow, if G. don’t start his paper. The Enterprise is making ready, with new type, &c.

Do you still receive the “Gate?”

I will think over the “Harper” proposition.

Hadn’t you better be smelling out some Legislative Halls & be getting them ready? Those snails at Carson will never do anything.

D—n Gallaher. Can’t [someone up there—Jo] for [instance—find a way to start] a bookstore & furnish [stationery to the legislature?]

[Yr Bro,

Sam.]

Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

Typed transcription by or for Albert Bigelow Paine, CU-MARK. The transcript is a typed copy of a damaged MS. When no conjecture seemed possible, the typist indicated missing text by supplying ellipses of varying lengths (“liar . . . . . .”); and when conjecture did seem plausible, she enclosed the missing characters within parentheses: “be(lieve him).” Paine went over the typescript and made his own conjectures for most of the gaps indicated by ellipses, writing his guesses on the typescript in pencil (they are here indicated to the right of the bullet by insertion marks, ‸‸). Though it is possible that Paine saw more in the MS than the typist considered legible (parts of otherwise missing letters and words), all conjectures supplied by emendation are the editors’ responsibility.

Previous publication:

Provenance:

See Paine Transcripts in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

‸P. S. I hope you will get into the • ‸Move‸ . . . .to the [conjecture by Paine inserted in pencil above the ellipsis, which is here rejected as inadequate. The typist typed this sentence below the closing and signature, like a postscript, but a reconstruction of the MS based on normal line length and paper size for 1862 indicates that most of the damaged parts probably fell at the top of a single MS page, presumably written on both sides. The postscript was therefore probably inserted above the dateline, as represented here.]

soon as ever you • soon . .  . . . ‸as ever you‸ [conjecture by Paine inserted in pencil above the ellipses]

handsomely—‸ | [one or more lines of text may be lost here] • handsomely— . . . .

July 28, 1862 • July (28, ’62?)

My Dear Bro: | [one or more lines of text may be lost here] | When •  . . . . . . . . . . | When [the ellipsis in the typescript is on a line by itself and may stand for more missing text than simply the missing salutation, which is here supplied by conjecture]

Proclamation, • Proclamation [followed by extra letter space, conjecturally because a typed comma failed to print]

liar, and you must • liar  . . . . . . ‸and you‸ must [conjecture by Paine inserted in pencil above the ellipsis]

him ever. I • him. . . . . ‸ever‸ (I) [conjecture by Paine inserted in pencil above the ellipsis]

did believe him, • did be(lieve him)

money from you • money (from you)

Union? • Union.

someone up there—Jo • some . . . . . —Jo

instance—find a way to start • instance . . start

stationery to the legislature? • station. . . . . . . . . . .lature?

Yr, Bro | Sam. • Yr. B. . | . . . [in complimentary close and signature position]